Re the Fijian Population of Rochdale, it is - I'm told - the largest UK Fijian population outside London and the focal point for ex-pat Fijian gatherings. The Fiji UK RL side has a large Rochdale contingent, and if you're involved/interested in RL in Rochdale, you don't have to go too far to bump into a Fijian (certainly Mayfield have a couple of lads playing for them, and the Rochdale Cobras have a palm-tree on their badge, such are the links).

The Hornets supporters tag side Rochdale Swarm played a Rochdale Fijian rep side a couple of years ago at Spotland (National anthems, the full monty!). They flogged us.

Given the size of my friends' families, those of my acquaintances, and mine also, it could be close run thing.

Why does an image of girls in grass skirts and leggings and clogs dancing whilst trying to avoid the leprecauns drinking guiness from a yard ale glass come to mind?

Seriously though, it should be a great day. I will be there and I am quietly confident that this fixture is one which has captured the imagination of the fans and will be a sellout. What is the capacity of Spotland, I guess around 9,000. It should definitely sell out.

I don't agree with what you are saying. I think you've got it the wrong way round.

We already know one thing about those Season Ticket holders: they are already fans of Rugby League - so much so that they are already prepared to pay money to watch the sport.

I agree that we need to expand into a different audience, but it will take a long time to get a whole new audience the same size as our Season Ticket holder. As I mentioned ther could be 70,000 Rugby League Season Ticket holders in this country - where do you entail that we pluck an extra 70,000 non-rugby league fans from then hey?? That would be one hell of a marketing task.

Thrust a poster of Scotland v Samoa or whatever infront of a Rugby League season ticket holder and the chances of them biting are MUCH greater than they are if you thrusted it in front of my next door neighbour (or 90% of the town for that matter) because many won't know the difference between Rugby League and Rugby Union and many would rarely go to ANY sporting event anyway including football.

Your two examples are not the same as the Rugby League World Cup - firstly the Olympics is an incredibly special event which people will see anyway because of the magnitude of it. And as for International Rugby Union matches there are many more people that actually know of rugby union and how it is played. "Fancy going to Twickenham to watch England" is a question that for most in the country requires a simple yes or no answer, whilst "Fancy watching England in the RL World Cup" I suspect raises many more questions before the Yes/No. I'm sorry but it's true.

There are of course people who watch Super League on television but don't go to games, people who play the amateur game that don't go to games and there will always be people who will hear about it on the radio or in a newspaper and decide to go. For that reason of course we should be targeting people who don't regularly go to RL and newbies.

But for this tournament to be successful we need to mobilise the 70,000-90,000 people who are already massive Rugby League fans, and who already travel and pay to watch the sport; then built the "newcomers" on top. Without that core support I don't think the rest will hold up.

It will be interesting when the tournament is over what percentage of fans are A) Season ticket holders, or B ) People who have been to a Rugby League matche before. I imagine even with the RFL's excellent marketing machine the figure for the former will still be at least 40% and for the latter 70%.

Hence why Season Ticket holders must be targeted first, foremost, and as early as possible.

We are aiming for 500,000 tickets aren't we. Like I said if every Season Ticket holder bought just three tickets then that's 210,000 tickets gone already. If they went to four matches then that's 280,000 gone already. There is no way you can make up figures like that purely on new fans.

Targeting order:

1. Rugby League international fans (people that already go to Internationals)2. Rugby League season ticket holders (domestic)3. Rugby League fans who go to the occasional game4. Rugby League players and their friends/family (all structures)5. People that watch Super League on TV (get them out to their first game!)6. Rugby League youth players (who play in schools and youth clubs) and their parents7. General sports fans (ticket holders and fans of Football teams, Rugby Union teams, Cricket etc etc)8. The general public who are non-sport fans.

Good to see this from RLWC2013 about tickets sold to what you would not term, the usual rugby league audience. Pleased to see that the World Cup team have identified the need to target sales at people other than the SL season ticket audience. It is our only hope, if we're to build the international game. We've got to build a new audience, not rely on the SL season ticket audience, the majority of whom have shown at the moment they aren't bothered, but will be, when others get involved.

RLWC2013 Ticketing Manager, Kevan Williams added: “We have been really busy selling tickets every day since they went on sale. We’ve sold tickets across the country and worldwide. Only 31% of sales have been in Super League towns and cities and we’ve had fans as far away as Australia, Russia, the USA and even Japan buying tickets.”

"Only 31% of sales have been in Super League towns and cities and we’ve had fans as far away as Australia, Russia, the USA and even Japan buying tickets.”

that's pretty amazing; means lots of people in Super League places yet to by their tix???

Hopefully plenty still to buy. RL fans are notoriously reluctant to buy tickets in advance. We have extremes. Either season ticket holders who pay once, and only once, or those who turn up 5 mins before kick-off and pay at the turnstile.

We need to create some demand. I remember Richard Lewis saying that there was no need for the queues you see at Wimbledon, but it is a great marketing ploy. It makes people feel that having a ticket for Wimbledon is something to be cherished. We need to somehow create that in rugby league. Then maybe we wouldn't be so blaze about the great game we've got.